Born To Run and the American Experience

Take a closer look at Bruce Springsteen’s iconic Born to Run with curator of the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music.
About this Event

PLEASE REGISTER THRU THE LIBRARY HERE: https://woodbridge-nj.libcal.com/event/17367978

Take a closer look at Bruce Springsteen’s iconic Born to Run with Melissa Kozlowski, curator of the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music at Monmouth University on December 2 at 7PM at the Woodbridge Main Library. This talk explores the album’s historical context, lyrical depth, and cultural impact, while examining the people, places, and influences that helped shape Springsteen’s groundbreaking work. Drawing on the resources of the Bruce Springsteen Archives and her experience as a historian, archivist, and curator, Kozlowski will explore why Born to Run continues to resonate powerfully across generations.

Registration is required! Please register online or by calling 732-634-4450.

The Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music preserves the legacy of Bruce Springsteen and celebrates the history of American music and its diversity of artists and genres. As the home of the Bruce Springsteen Archives, the Center serves as the official repository for materials related to Springsteen and the E Street Band, including photographs, historic memorabilia, oral histories, and more. The Center also explores American music more broadly by producing exhibitions, concerts, and educational programming that interprets and honors the cultural impact of American music past, present, and future.

Melissa Kozlowski began her career as a historian, archivist, and curator for the US Army in 2004 prior to returning to her alma mater, Monmouth University, to teach full-time. She has taught over a dozen different courses, including Intro to Public History; Oral History; Museums and Archives Management Basics; and Historic Site Preservation, Interpretation, and Management. In August of 2023, she became curator of the University’s Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music, after having worked with the Center for many years in her faculty role (to include curating the Center’s first traveling exhibit, Springsteen: His Hometown, with the Monmouth County Historical Association in 2019). Her most recent publications include Fort Monmouth: The US Army’s House of Magic (2024) and The Battlin’ Bastards of Bravo: Bravo Company, 1/506th, 101st Airborne, in Vietnam and Beyond (2025). Her current book project is Born in the USA: Bruce Springsteen, Bart Haynes, Walter Cichon – and the Vietnam War.

https://woodbridge-nj.libcal.com/event/17367978